Look at the bottom of the page! From my Senior Garden Class. Haven't had an issue with the little pests. But the teachers remedies are usually spot on.
FAMOUS RECIPES:
Ant: Mix 1 teaspoon boric acid powder and 1/3 cup sugar in 2 cups water. Place a
piece of sponge in a small jar. Fill with liquid bait. Refill once aweek. Store excess . ^
bait in the refrigerator. Change when mold forrns on sponge. Start baiting in April
Deer: Liquid Fence (available at Hydroscape) OR mix 3 eggs in a gallon of warm
water and spray on plants. OR hang bars of fels naptha or lifebuoy soap about every
10 feet around the property line.
Rabbits: Liquid Fence OR soak beef liver in hot hot water for a couple of hours.
Discard liver. Spray diluted liver water around the garden. Redo after rain.
Slugs: Sluggo. Or spray with full strength vinegar or ammonia. Place a juicy
cantaloupe or grapefruit rind in the garden overnight. In the morning when it is full of
slugs, bag and toss it. Never use metaldehyde.
Snails: Decollate snails. Reduce overwatering. Copper strips. Wood ashes or
crushed eggshells sprinkled around the plants.
Roach Bait:4 Tablespoons boric acid,2 Tablespoons flour, 1 Tablespoon Cocoa OR
1 Tablespoon boric acid powder and 1/2 cup sugar. Mix and place in jar lids behind the
range, refrigerator, under sink, where pets can't find them. Also sprinkle boraxo soap
in the bottom of trash barrels.
Mice: 2 Tablespoons cornstarch, 1 Tablespoon powdered sugar, I Tablespoon plaster
of Paris- in iar lids where pets cannot reach it. See
www.rodetrol.com for other
products
Connie Beck
holisticgardener@hotmail. com
Connie Beck has been an organic gardening instructor and landscape designer for over 30 years, including ten
years teaching vocational horticulture at the San Diego Caunty Women's Jail. She also has been a docenl for
the Auduban Society and a Natural History Museum Canyoneer. She has been Horticulture Chairman and
Propagation Chairman for California Native Plant Society and Backyard Wildlife Habitat Host for National
Wildlife Federation. She believes that one person at a time can make a difference by giving up toxic chemicals
and providing the basic necessities for wildlife: food, water, cover and a place to raise their young.